The daughter of a slain RSP leader grieves over his body in Basanti. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha

May 14: Growing tension between the RSP and the CPM over the past few months today culminated in the death of four supporters of the two parties during the panchayat polls in Basanti, South 24-Parganas.

Seven persons have been killed in poll-related violence since last night.

Eighteen people were killed on a single day of polling in 2003. However, the deaths five years ago were not in clashes between two Left Front partners.

Around 10.30am today, three RSP supporters, including a woman, were allegedly chased by CPM men when they were about to enter a polling booth in the Talda village panchayat area, 90km from Calcutta.

The RSP trio were yards away from their homes when they were fired at.

Madhusudan Halder, 23, son of RSP candidate Rampada, Kanak Sardar, 32, daughter of RSP leader Palan Halder, and Palan’s brother Ramkrishna, 58, died.

Police said a dozen RSP supporters suffered bullet and bomb injuries. They have been admitted to the Basanti block health centre.

The houses of Palan, Mangal Halder and Nimai Halder were looted and torched.

CPM activist Atiar Sheikh, 50, was hacked to death and bombed.

The CPM and the RSP had been engaged in a fierce turf war in the Basanti and Gosaba areas of South-24 Parganas in the run-up to the polls. Several top RSP leaders had visited Talda in the past few days and exhorted party activists “not to allow CPM any ground in Basanti and its adjoining areas’’.

The RSP, which has been critical of the CPM-led government’s move to acquire farmland for industries, had failed to arrive at a seat-sharing deal with the partner.

In the last elections, the two parties had no understanding in 80 per cent of the seats. This time, there were differences over 85 per cent of them.

RSP leader and irrigation minister Subhas Naskar alleged that Basanti police station had not taken any step despite being told earlier to deploy more policemen and make preventive arrests.

After today’s flare-up, a large contingent of police, Rapid Action Force and Border Security Force personnel were deployed in the village.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee called up PWD minister and senior RSP leader Kshiti Goswami to say he was deeply concerned at the loss of lives and urged for talks. “The incident is really unfortunate and shouldn’t have happened. I am sending more forces to Basanti tonight as there is a chance of retaliatory action. I want to request you to ask your party men to sit with our supporters and work out a solution. The home secretary is here. Please talk to him,” the chief minister was quoted as telling Goswami.

Goswami told the chief minister his party had demanded the deployment of the paramilitary in Basanti for the polls. “It was not done.”

Two CPM workers died last night while making bombs in Shantipur village in Nadia and a Congress supporter was killed by a bomb hurled at him in Howrah’s Domjur.

The first phase of the polls, on Sunday, had no casualties.

In 2005, 10 persons died in Murshidabad, where the CPM and the Congress clashed. In Canning and Kultali — in South 24-Parganas — a CPM duo died in an SUCI attack.

Home secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti said tonight that the government would probe why the violence erupted in Basanti despite “sufficient deployment of armed forces”.

District police chief Praveen Kumar said 10 people, including three policemen, were injured in Bishnupur, Budge Budge and Baruipur.

Four Trinamul Congress activists from Bishnupur were hospitalised in Calcutta with bullet injuries.

The election commission said polling was suspended in 33 booths, including 15 in Basanti following violence and allegations of booth jamming and ballot-paper snatching.